The western genre is one of those that just doesn’t have the staying power that it once did, but over the last couple of years there have been some pretty great entries riding in to try and revitalize it. The latest Mohawk from We Are Still Here director Ted Geohegan looks to take a different direction to the usual story, but does it have that something special that helps it stand out or will it be scalped?

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Mohawk follows a young Mohawk woman and her two lovers battle a squad of American soldiers hell-bent on revenge late in the War of 1812. I knew nothing about this movie going in which was a good thing because it ended up being a pretty great and surprising flick. There is nothing here that hasn’t been seen before, but the direction and focus of the Indian side of things made it feel fresh. The beginning of the film is a bit slow and struggles a bit trying to find balance between the relationships between some of the characters and the set up to what they are dealing with, but it clearly finds its footing pretty fast once things get going.

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Once they get to the meat of it all they amp up the violence to let you know that this is not going to be an easy journey from that point on. This movie plays up in two parts with the first half being a cat and mouse chase for survival but develops into a tale of extremely violent vengeance that is a perfect cap to the overall experience. The cast are all decent and the overall film ended up delivering an intense level of unexpected and often graphic violence that took it to a new level.

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If you are a fan of the western style genre and looking for something different then give Mohawk a try available now on Blu-ray and DVD from Dark Sky Films.